Trolls almost made Jesy Nelson quit Little Mix

Jesy Nelson has admitted that she came close to quitting Little Mix when they started out on the 2011 series of 'The X Factor' because she couldn't cope with the insults and abuse from trolls on social media.

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Posted:12 Sep 2019 22:00

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Jesy Nelson considered quitting Little Mix because she was so "depressed" over the abuse she was getting from online trolls.

The 28-year-old pop star recently admitted she attempted to take her own life after being subjected to relentless insults on social media about her appearance, an experience she has shared in the BBC documentary 'Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out'.

Now, Jesy has confessed that there were several occasions where she wanted to walk away from the group when they were starting out on the 2011 series of 'The X Factor' but her bandmates, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards, convinced her not to.

Explaining how the trolling started during an interview on Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp, she said: "When we got into Little Mix, that was when Twitter and all that was getting quite big. And we got given these mobile phones and they were like, 'You've got to have Twitter, because people need to get to know Little Mix and you girls individually.' I just remember we did the first live show and I remember being in the house at the time and everyone was gathering around watching their performances back online, and someone was like, 'Oh look, you can read what people are saying about your performance.' When we went back onto the comments, every single comment was about the way I looked. Nothing was about us as a group or our singing. It was literally like, 'Jesy is repulsive.' 'Jesy looks deformed, she looks absolutely disgusting, I don't want to look at that girl anymore.'

"I just remember at that time feeling like I don't know what I've done wrong, because I'd never had a problem with the way I looked before social media. Everything changed - my confidence, me as a person, I didn't want to go out. I missed work, missed shows. When I was on social media and I saw it from grown women and grown men, women with children, mums and dads, I was just like, 'Woah.' It really affected me mentally because I thought, 'Oh god, if they're saying it, it must be true.' "

Radio host Roman, 26, then asked: "Did you nearly leave the band?"

To which Jesy replied: "Yeah. Yeah, yeah."

Roman - whose parents are Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp and former Wham! backing singer Shirlie Holliman - then suggested that there "must have been a few times that the girls have stopped you leaving the band?"

Jesy then answered: "Yeah. But for them it was hard as well because at the same time they're living their dream, so to have someone in the band who was constantly down and depressed all the time. You don't want that when you're living your best life, and it was hard for them to be happy but then console me at the same time."

Jesy - who is in a relationship with former 'Love Island' star Chris Hughes - admits the pain she has suffered at the hands of trolls has changed her as a person forever and she'll never be the same girl she was before going on Simon Cowell's TV talent show.

She said: "I'm not gonna lie, I don't feel like I will ever be the same as I was before 'X Factor', because there's a lot of things mentally that I'm still dealing with but I'm overcoming."

'Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out' airs on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday (12.09.19).